Rise of the Dragon Child
by crischion
Summary: A brilliant scientist has lost his love, and his son lays dying. After using the power of the Dragon Balls to heal his son, his son becomes a powerful warrior. This is his story.


Deep within a mountain, the biological tube dimly glows. The pale blue light from the glass womb illuminates the cold silent machines. Nitrogen bubbles course up through warm organic fluid, and trail across the silent unmoving body floating inside. His dark hair gently dances in the light, as he sleeps calmly suspended in the chamber.  
  
Across the room, the door opens, shedding light onto the polished stone floor. A man walks past the shutdown computers to the chamber. The computer beside the tube beeps as he flicks the switch on. A green line stretches across the screen, jumping up and down in tune with the sleeping boys heartbeat. The old man presses a few keys on the pad, and the heart monitor shrinks. Windows displaying different numbers and symbols replace the green line. He scratches his baldhead and brings up a three dimensional representation of the boy.  
  
The boy opens his eyes suddenly and looks around his liquid prison. He presses against his hands against the glass, struggling to open it. The old man looks up from the computer and at the awakened boy. Their eyes meet and the boy starts to punch and kick at the glass. He screams at the old man and punches furiously at the chamber, trying to get out.  
  
"Stop! Stop it please!" yells the old man. The boy continues to try to break the glass, infuriated at the man.  
  
"Please stop," the old man pleads. He presses some more keys and a green fluid releases into the chamber. The boy continues to attack as the liquid mixes in the chamber. He starts to weaken as the liquid surrounds him. His head starts to lull back down again, and fall back into unconsciousness. The man turns off the computer screen and rises. He turns towards the boy, and reaches out his hand to him.  
  
"I'm sorry. Just wait a little longer, and you will be strong enough," he says to the floating body. He turns away and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.  
  
"Sir, I have the report you asked for," speaks a young scientist as the old man walks in.  
  
"Thank you. Just set it on my desk Bunsen," the old man replies, rubbing his forehead.  
  
"Yes, Professor Pentium. You really should rest. We can take care of things for right now," says Bunsen.  
  
"No not right now. I'm so close. Can't rest until I finish," the professor responds.  
  
"Ok. At least get something to eat. We don't want you to die before we finish," Bunsen says  
  
"Don't worry about me. I'll live to see my work complete. Even if it's the last thing I do," retorts Pentium, "Now get out of here."  
  
Bunsen hurries out a door to deliver the report. Pentium walks over towards the table, and pours himself a cup of coffee. He takes a sip of the hot coffee, and winces at the taste.  
  
"How long has this been left here," he mumbles to himself.  
  
He paces back and forth across the room, alternating between taking sips of coffee and scratching his head. Finishing the coffee, he tosses the Styrofoam cup into the wastebasket, and walks out of the room and down a hallway. Pentium trudges through the dimly lit hallways towards the laboratory. He approaches the glass doors of the lab, and punches a few digits into the keypad. A green light flashes for a second as the lock clicks open. The doors swing open and the professor walks in. A small wisp of smoke rises from the table in the center of the room as a young woman solders together wires in a small-orbed contraption with two sharp parallel prongs protruding out.  
  
"Petrie, how is the siphon coming along?" inquires Pentium. She raises her head from the siphon and looks towards the professor.  
  
"Its almost complete. Though I'm having problems routing the energy from the collector to the storage device," Petrie answers.  
  
"Hmm," scratching his head as he contemplates, "Try rerouting it through the power converter and then reconstruct the energy storage device into a crystalline format. That should be able to contain a greater amount of power."  
  
"Ok, I'll get on it," Petrie answers back, "By the way, how is he?"  
  
"His body still isn't producing a proper amount of energy to sustain himself. We're going to have to up the protein intake of the bio-tank," Pentium says.  
  
"No, I mean how is he doing. Does he remember anything?" she explains.  
  
"Also no change. He can't remember who I am, or what happened," Pentium sighs.  
  
"What do you expect? He's been stuck in that tube for over a decade, drugged and alone. You should talk to him. Tell him who he is, and who you are. It'll help. Trust me," Petrie shouts.  
  
"Well its too late now. He'll be able to live outside of the chamber, just as soon as we get the energy," answers Pentium sullenly. He walks back out the door while Petrie continues to work on the siphon. He navigates through the halls towards his office. Flicking on the desk light he searches through the desk drawers for his pipe and matches. He pulls it to his lips and strikes a match on the box. Placing the match against the tobacco he takes a few puffs, leaning back in his chair. The manila folder holding the report Bunsen delivered catches his eye. He picks it up and flips through the pages. He quickly reviews over all previous information and pictures and goes straight to the new info.  
  
  
  
Operation Ryu Phase 1  
  
Current status on Dragon Balls:  
  
Retrieved:  
  
5  
  
Located:  
  
2  
  
Locations:  
  
In abandoned mines of the western mountains.  
  
Thirty miles south, six miles west of Cod Bay.  
  
Approximate time till complete retrieval of all Dragon Balls: 6 Days  
  
Status of Energy Siphon  
  
Energy Collector: 95% complete  
  
Energy Storage Cells: 72% complete  
  
Energy Channels: 25% complete  
  
Approximate time till Siphon is operational: 2 Weeks  
  
2 Weeks until Operation Ryu proceeds to phase 2.  
  
  
  
He closes the file and sets it on the desk, staring at it for a few moments. He presses the intercom button on the phone, signaling Bunsen. His vision trails across the desk to a picture of him, his wife, and his son. He passes his hand over their faces gently. He stares at each of them, reminiscing of the happiness they once shared. His eyes tear up at the lost moments, at the memory of that one fated day. The day he lost them both to tragedy. Hot tears streak down his cheeks, and his body starts to shake. BZZZZ  
  
"Professor," rings Bunsen's voice from the other side of the intercom. Pentium wipes the tears from his face and clears his throat before answering.  
  
"Yes," Pentium replied.  
  
"You buzzed me," Bunsen said.  
  
"Oh yes. I want to accompany you on the last two collections of the Dragon Balls," said Pentium.  
  
"I was about to leave for the Dragon Ball in Cod Bay. I can delay it until you are ready. Would you like me to postpone the departure?" Bunsen asks.  
  
"Yes, I will be ready to go in an hour," Pentium responds.  
  
"Ok. The chopper will be ready and waiting," Bunsen clicks off.  
  
Pentium rises from his chair and places the pipe back in the desk. He takes the folder and places it inside the filing desk. He walks to the door and turns out the light before leaving the room to head to the chopper hangar. 


End file.
